iiNet welcomes NBN strategic review

iiNet welcomes the strategic review of NBN Co and the commitment to a continuation of the rollout of superfast broadband by this Government. We’ve always been a strong supporter of the National Broadband Network and the plan to provide modern, superfast broadband across the country. This has not changed.

We have already connected more than 25,000 customers to the National Broadband Network, a number that is only going to accelerate as the network rollout continues. This validates our decision to be an early adopter of the NBN and provides us with unmatched experience of the needs expressed by our retail customers.

We’re particularly encouraged by the extra investment outlined in the review and the 2019 completion target, which will bring the benefits of superfast broadband earlier than expected.

It’s promising to see the assembly of a strong Board and management team at NBN Co, with a good mix of industry experience and a new customer focus. We’re excited by the renewed commitment to operational scalability and connecting as many people to the network as possible.

We applaud the focus in this review, on connecting those Australians who have been left behind in the digital economy – delivering fast broadband to the millions of households and businesses currently underserviced.

For the past four years, we’ve been providing NBN services to a range of eager customers. Providers like iiNet make sure we understand our customers and the range and types of services they need. With such a huge public investment, it is important that the NBN simply focuses on building a first-class wholesale communications network.

This period of re-examination by the Government should include a ‘step back’ by NBN Co from the design of retail services. This is a responsibility best left to expert retailers like iiNet. Service providers are well placed to respond to customer demand and design products and services, following direct feedback from the market. NBN Co should get on with network construction and leave the retail space to the retailers.

As a market leader of NBN services, we understand our customer needs more than most. This review seems preoccupied with download speeds and households, and ignores the small business owners who are set to benefit the most from improved performance.

The hundreds of businesses we’ve connected are looking for products designed for their needs – not those designed by a wholesale network operator. In our experience, businesses are looking for significantly greater upload speeds to allow them to operate more productively and to expand their market like never before.

It is clear from our own small business customers, who are signing up to NBN delivered services, that this important infrastructure can drive economic development by lowering costs, extending reach as well as creating employment and even export opportunities.

These things are the appropriate focus for investment in this country and, as such, it’s really a ‘no-brainer’ for a proud Australian company like iiNet to continue to support the NBN project.

Seriously? You’re actually supporting this backward *Coalition* “plan”, which is in no way fibre to the premises, goes back on promises made pre-election, and won’t even barely offer 25Mbps minimum, considering the far better 100Mbps, while it would maybe have cost more, is *far* better than what exists. Australia is still *years* behind so many other countries when it comes to how internet service is provided.
Malcolm Turnbull has gone back on several promises made, accessing less areas and barely changing internet speeds at all. This “plan” looks no better than what we currently have!

That’s nice iiNet. I’ve been a loyal customer for more than 8 years. Just let me know when you’re going to offer me fibre to the home. I don’t see the point in this 25mb/s plan, when ADSL2+ already offers 24 mb/s. That’s a lot of money for not much increase.

@David, it’s unfair to compare the theoretical maximum of ADSL (which is VERY hard to obtain, and impossible for a large majority of people), with the much more easily obtainable VDSL benchmark set by the coalition.

In short, the 24mbit maximum is the theoretical maximum provided by ADSL2+, 25mbit is a minimum set by the coalition, which everyone will get.

Just to be clear, I am completely against the coalition’s plan, and the coalition as a political party. I just think we should try to play fair.

There is a pertinent graph on this piece which shows VDSL2 speed vs distance. Note this is from an equipment supplier pushing VDSL2. Of note is that over a certain distance VDSL2 bandwidth (by design) matches that of ADSL2+.

Glen, you are very unlikely to see any improvement on your current speed unless the node is placed quite close to your premises (and have a copper loop in excellent condition). There are some other interesting points around potential interference between DSL services over the same cable bundle.

Kye, its very fair to compare the technology we have now to that proposed by the Coalition, as it degrades similarly to the proposed technology over distances and conditions likely to be encountered. If NBN progresses with a FTTN we will not be seeing that much of an improvement on what is currently obtainable over local loops, and its going to cost $40-odd billion for the effort.

Politicians can promise all they like, but if the technology and the customer access network in its current state cannot fundamentally support it, baring magic its not going to happen. FTTP GPON would provide a long-term quality of service, small contention ratios, excellent upload and download bandwidth, reliability guarantee and reduced TCO. Its time-frame and capital investment is becoming more comparable to the Coalition plan’s every time a new strategic review is release.

@Simon Shaw, it’s unfair to compare the theoretical maximum of ADSL (which is VERY hard to obtain, and impossible for a large majority of people), with the much more easily obtainable VDSL benchmark set by the coalition.

In short, the 24mbit maximum is the theoretical maximum provided by ADSL2+, 25mbit is a minimum set by the coalition, which everyone will get, with most people getting double that.

Just to be clear, I am completely against the coalition’s plan, and the coalition as a political party. I just think we should try to play fair.

Trouble is Kye that LNP NBN policy is now only guaranteeing those speeds to wholesale providers and NOT the taxpayer as promised.

Worse still 1/3 Australians are being excluding since they are in the HFC footprint which may or may not be acquired by the NBNCo. i don’t see how they can legally do this… Oh and that cost does not appear to be a part of the $41 billion and neither is the unknown cost of remediation of Telstras failing CAN.

Wake up iiNet. Support LNP NBNCo at your peril!

They can’t even guarantee the 25Mbit, 50 or 100 as promised in the election campaign.

@Kye, Only time will tell, but i think your incorrect in assuming that “play fair” is what politicians do. The NBN will now be a mixed mode environment the will be extremely costly to maintain. And therefor unaffordable for the people that could have benefited from it the most.

Are you insane iiNet? The NBN has effectively been cancelled in the HFC areas. If the NBN ever manages to negogiate an agreement with Telstra to provide open access to the HFC it will be years away. The NBN has become a complete and utter mess. Turnbull will forever be remembered as the man who stole our broadband dreams.

@Frank Costanza, It’s a shame you people can’t take five minutes from your left wing politicing. The NBN was a complete and utter mess under Labor. It was extremely over priced, under delivered, and on and on.

At least people in regional Australia now actually have a hope of reasonable NBN deployment. I have an above average ADSL2+ service, compared to many around here, but, on a good day, it will reach a maximum of 15 mbps.

Mostly it averages about 8-12.

I’d love to see even 25 mbps let alone 100 or anything else.

Telstra have forsaken the regional customers, they’re a joke!

Turnbull admitted that in the end it will be FTTP, however the question is the best way to go about it. From what I saw of the review, it seems that upgrading to FTTP within 5 years of the connection will still better economically than Labor’s plan.

Either way, I’d rather see the realistic figures set by the LNP than the obscene lies and over promising we saw under Labor.

@Bobbie, “left wing politicking’, hey?. “The NBN was a complete and utter mess under Labor”. Was it really?

All I know is that according to the NBN’s own website (pre-Turnbull), I should have been seeing the infrastructure being put in place in my suburb in 2013/2014, and based on what they said they would do in suburbs around me, and what they actually did, I had absolutely no reason to doubt that it would happen. Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott have destroyed beyond repair, my and my neighbours dreams of a decent internet speed.

I’d almost kill for some of the speeds that you people claim to get already, even without an NBN connection.

I live in metropolitan Perth. I can’t get REAL adsl2+. I live 242 meters from the Telstra exchange building. I just did a speed test. I get 1294 kbps download and 213 kbps upload. WOW!!

If I check with iinet about available plans I’m constantly told that I can get access to their 1.5Mbps/256kbps plans. WOW!!!!

Welcome to my world. The NBN was coming here, and at any speed, it was going to be better than what I have now. I now fear, that thanks to Turnbull, I may never see fast internet speeds at my home in my lifetime.

I knew what I was getting under Labors “utter mess”. Now I know what I’m getting under the Liberals…. NOTHING!

just as a matter of point nothing labor set out was unrealistic… i’m getting basically full 100/40 fibre at my house on iinets NBN.. i lose about 2MB/s getting about 98/40 and it’s been flawless not one dropout in almost a year no dramas at all… and $100 is not incredibly expensive either

Lucky for me that i get to enjoy my FTTH connection while spending the Christmas and new year break at my apartment in Manila, amazing that i have a Fibre connection in a third world country, something that i will never experience in my life time while living in my Australian Home.

Dear iiNet. I’d appreciate if you could spend some of your energy on getting me at least ADSL2 speeds in Hurstbridge, rather than wasting it playing political tootsies with the bunch of hacks who now tell us that their election promises were all made on the never-never and don’t really count now that people have voted ’em in.

Do you support the part where they’re cutting 30% of the nation out of the National Broadband Network as well? I’m in an HFC area, and am not entirely excited by the prospect of being stuck with Telstra for the next 50 years.

NBN: 100Mbps wholesale download speeds available to more Australians by 2019 than if previous plan had continued on current path*

* NBN Co will be designing the new-look NBN to provide these speeds to NBN Co’s wholesale customers (internet service providers). End-user experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the NBN, will continue to depend on a number of factors outside our control including end-user equipment quality, software, broadband plans and how each service provider designs its network.

I’m a little disappointed that iiNet seems to be in favour of the outcome of the “Strategic Review”. It wasn’t long ago that the word from iiNet was that FTTP was the way of the future. Why on earth are you now throwing yourself infront of the bus?

I’ve had a read-through, and while it does seem to promise faster* broadband to more^ people, it’s still costing the economy more for a far less superior and non-future-proof network for Australia.

How much did the Liberals pay you for the change in tone?

* faster by 1 megabit (that’s 80kb/sec), although that increase is not guaranteed to be available to everyone and is STILL reliant on distance from the node.

^ more when you ignore x% of the population as needing anything faster than what they already have.

Please do not support this LNP NBN. I do not wish to be put on a NODE.
Very disappointed in iiNet view on this. NBN board appointments are the most dodgiest political episode I’ve seen. O’well the Strategic Review will pay for a new boat for MT mate.

Fixed wireless seems a general term. Is this what is usually called WiMax? (A last mile wireless connection.) I have vague memories of WiMax being in the mix during the lead-up to the NBN plan being rolled out.

Like most people, I have given up on ever getting a fast internet.
This incompetent bunch in Canberra are determined to get rid of all the manufacturing industry in Australia. Preventing them from getting an internet comparable to the rest of the World is just part of their plan.

Back in 2001 when we were getting this new wiz-bang thing called ADSL here in Australia, in Japan they were getting fiber to the home, at around 100mb/sec.
Now that we are getting some fiber to the home here in Australia (at less than 100mb/sec) and Japan is starting to get 2Gb/sec.

I guess going by that time comparison by around 2025 to 2030 (or maybe later) we might get 2Gb/sec

or probably not…

though we will have probably gone through 4 governments by then, maybe one of them will get it right….

Why can’t we live within our means? If the FTTN system is cheaper then i’m all for it. If the FTTP system is more expensive, we have to do a study to see what the cost/benefit ratio is. That is the normal way guv’s do things like this (except i’m sure the Socialists). If you want the speed and the other advantages, then pay for it yourself you selfish moron(s).

As usual, the Labor Party made a hash of the whole thing because they didn’t think it through properly. They hired their mates to run the whole thing into the ground (literally). The LNP Plan is more prudent but we won’t get everything we want for a while yet. Maybe the LNP Plan can deliver better speeds in the final setting by waiting for DSLAM’s with 2 Gbps capability, who knows!

To all the selfish people out there, subsidise it yourself. IINET has the best Broadband i have ever had in my life and I am very happy to defend them against the “me” generation every time.

@Crabby, you need to do some reading. It was user pays. The faster the speed you signed up for meant that more money went back to the government to pay for the network. The FTTP network was designed to make the government money as an investment. And don’t get me started on Labor getting their mates to run the network. Have you had a gander of who Turnbull has put I the NBNCo? Quigley was and still is one of the most respected in the industry.

@Crabby, Hi Crabby, I don’t think it’s a matter of posters here being selfish and not wanting to pay for better services.

4 mb/s is not ADSL2 is it? Where someone whose recently moved to melbourne is asking if they can get a better service. The answer is simply that there’s a physical limitation based on the technology.

VDSL, from Fibre-To-The-Node, if the current proposed solution it becomes available (in non-HFC zones), may provide an option increase in speeds for those like Ollie and others here would gladly pay to access. Although a lot will continue to depend on the quality (& upkeep) of copper in the local loop, and their distance from the node.

What some here are now asking is: what the roll-out will mean, if there’s no guarantee for end-users (the speed guarantee is only for wholesalers) whether the expenditure will mean many may see little if any improvement at all? Is the return on investment worthwhile; given what some commentators characterise as a patch-work of technologies. Compatibilty, easier of migration between providers (a massive head-ache now for all Australians moving home) to increase price competitiveness and value for the dollar, as well as long term upgrade potential are all areas still needing a lot more discussion.

Asking, whether our families and local communities will see any benefit? It is a fair enough question for taxpayers to ask the current government.

True. The current government still needs an opportunity to prove it’s business case will deliver to all Australians. However looking at the mixed implementation now being proposed it’s far from a fair distribution for the short or even medium term (4 – 10 years).

My partner & I have used distribution maps for NBN and ADSL before we buy. The reality now is that access to high quality broadband now affects the value of a suburb (or houses in a particular street), similar to considerations as to access to transport, schools and other essential services affect the value of the dwelling.

The large gaps exist now in many outer urban and regional areas now. For some there little or no opportunity, even where individuals and businesses are prepared to pay for access, because the infrastructure is too poor or simply doesn’t exist. Even after a decade of ADSL these gaps have not been filled by going concerns and look very unlikely to ever be. Like many streets in HFC areas now, who were bypassed they risk becoming infrastruture backwaters where investment, innovation, employment, and likewise opportunity will also bypass them.

For Australians in places where there is a clear infrastructure deficit they need more just bitumen. In the 21st Century, other essential services are needed for people and business to want to stay and grow. The NBN is needed here too otherwise we cannot expect iiNet or any other company to make the investment where it isn’t already profitable to do so; without which they cannot afford to offer us any choice.

Access to high speed and high quality Internet is seen as very important by other countries with populations as small as ours; with the caveat that most aren’t also shackled by distance as our nation finds itself to be. With many types of manufacturing deserting our shores, increasing competition in the mineral sectors from other nations (as they gain stable governments) we need to be ready to innovate to continue our years of uninterrupted economic growth. We will need more than natural wealth to maintain our prosperity into the future.

So while some of us are fortunate now to own our own homes with a decent connection (<500m from an exchange getting 18-19Mbps here), it behooves us give fair hearing to others who don't. Surely in a democracy it does not help any of us to be silent on issues that connect us all together.

@Crabby, To all the selfish people out there, subsidise it yourself. IINET has the best Broadband i have ever had in my life and I am very happy to defend them against the “me” generation every time. – See more at: http://blog.iinet.net.au/reaction-nbn-strategy-review/#comment-27144
Crabby. What on earth are you rambling on about? ‘The selfish people”, we are all taxpayers, and as such would like to see our tax dollar spent to benefit Australia not line the pockets of politicians and corporate bodies. A unified structure that has optical fibre from exchange to household is only limited by the exchange. Having copper to the premises from the node (wireless from the node makes the quality variable.) This is not a saving it is just adding a later cost.
This was always going to be an expensive but necessary exercise. Blaming any political party for the fact our network is severely compromised is pointless as Telstra was privatised by the Liberals some time ago.
NBN leases the network from Telstra and have been playing both ends against the middle, as they have a vested interest in the failure of NBN. The costing for remediation of the network seems not to allow for many of the inherent hazards within the work. When this go awry Telstra point at the victims rather than help fix the problem. NBN has a ‘New Board’ ex-Telstra guys that assisted with selling Telstra off i.e. very much in the pocket of the liberal party. None of this seems to be helpful to the general public living in ‘brownfield’ areas. Brownfield i.e. old estates. These have the majority of the population, present the most problems and seem to be getting largely ignored. How can the present government dictate a policy to its electorate that will cost individual businesses and households thousands of dollars to have a system as good as people living in new estates?

The Liberal (Coalition Party) is NOT saving anything. This guarantee of 25Mbps minimum is a quarter of 100Mbps guaranty of what the ALP was planning.

Now lets look a bit closer at what they plan

They plan to install fiber to the node, this is not going to save anything long term as our ageing copper wires are deteriorating and will continue to do so, the maintenance of ageing copper wires is going to exceed the cost of connecting fiber to the home! This is not saving us a cent.

Would it not be cheaper (Long Term) to install fiber to the home as the Techys are in the area?

Connecting fiber to your home is something you are now going to pay for dearly.

The truth be known, this is all to do with a Coalition Party Member namely Mr. Rupert Murdoch.

As 100Mbps would kill Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s monopoly on pay TV and give other guys like Netflix and IINET a go at Pay TV. With the coalition speeds of 25Mbps this will not happen.

Are all you people to stupid to see that this is not about saving TaxPayers money but rather saving Mr. Rupert Murdoch. ASS.

In any case if the ALP will build it at next election, at your expense, only to have Liberal party sell off it at the elections after that. This is just history repeating it self.

Don’t any of you see the truth that Labor and Liberal are taking you all for a ride they pretend to be in opposition to hide how they are both working against the people that vote for them!

This is all about Rupert’s ASS what can I say on to you but Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely

This greedy old man is holding back our nation all for his greed, holding us back from a secure future that we all need so badly what ever happened to the clever country that will only come from a super fast NBN.

Unfortunately the government doesn’t have a lot of money and needs to look at cheap solutions. The ALP’s promised NBN was far too expensive and the alternative be it slower is more cost effective formed by the Liberals. Who prefers greater debt, higher interest rates etc. I have to say I don’t. Everybody needs to look at the bigger picture of debt. Maybe we should drop the NBN for better hospital services etc.

@Doug, Unfortunately the government doesn’t have a lot of money and needs to look at cheap solutions – See more at: http://blog.iinet.net.au/reaction-nbn-strategy-review/#comment-27154
Doug – The government of Australia has a lot of our money, and the cheap solutions presented will prove to be more expensive in the long term. The existing network is in chronic disrepair and has been deteriorating extensively since Telstras privatisation by the Liberal Party. The benefit of having a quality internet connection cannot be underestimated in hospitals, education and many other areas in which having access to new technology are vital. Plunging us back into second world conditions by ditching NBN would be incredibly stupid and highly detrimental to hospitals.

@Crevan, Also – in case I misread the speeds – if the coalition’s version is actually 25/5 mbps (i.e. 0.625 mp/s upload) then I’m absolutely laughing my butt off at anyone who endorses such a horrendous plan!

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